Bullet train to hit Indian tracks soon!
What's the story
The Indian Railways is all set to move swiftly and ensure faster train travels as the construction work on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor is going to begin soon. Railway Board Member (Traffic) Mohammed Jamshed said the construction work for the bullet train corridor would start by 2017. National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited, the company that would implement the project, has also been constituted.
Introduction
About the Indian Railways
Indian Railways is one of the largest in the world with trains ferrying about 23 million people in a day. After Narendra Modi had become the Prime Minister in May 2014, he has devised several plans to upgrade and modernize the Indian railways. Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu who assumed the post in Nov'14 announced several plans to revamp the current rail network.
Information
Japanese assistance
The high-speed bullet train corridor from Mumbai to Ahmedabad would be reportedly built with the assistance of Japan. The corridor would be constructed on the basis of the Japanese Shinkansen high-speed technology.
Mumbai-Ahmedabad
Tariff for bullet trains to be less than airfare
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor is expected to be completed between 2023-24. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu assured the tariff for traveling on this bullet train would be less than airfare. The Government of Japan is providing financial assistance for this project in the form of a loan (to be repaid in 50 years with 15-year moratorium) up to 81% of the cost at 0.1% interest rate.
Strategy
Indian Railways' multipronged strategy
Indian Railways under Suresh Prabhu adopted a multipronged strategy to implement high-speed train projects. The current program is reportedly part of "Mission Raftaar" and has two aims. Firstly, to run trains at over 300 kmph speed; secondly, to have semi-high speed trains that would travel at 160-200 kmph speed. The idea is to run existing trains at much higher speeds and introduce faster trains.
Other Corridors
Five other high-speed corridors identified
Five other high-speed corridors for more than 300 kmph trains have also been identified by the Indian Railways. The five corridors comprise Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Nagpur, and Mumbai-Nagpur high-speed corridors. Indian Railways is conducting feasibility studies for the five routes. The final reports for all the routes except the Delhi-Nagpur are expected in Jan'17; the report for the Delhi-Nagpur corridor has been received.
Talgo
Talgo successfully completes three-phase rigorous trials
Recently, Spanish high-speed train manufacturer Talgo successfully finished its three-phase rigorous trials in India. The train's final run was conducted on the Delhi-Mumbai route, where Talgo proved its coaches could help reduce the travel time by 4 hours in comparison to Rajdhani Express. Railway Ministry's Additional Director General Public Relations Anil Saxena said plans to use Talgo coaches on Shatabdi routes are on.